Photography Tripods: A discussion of of various use case scenarios

Tripods in general don’t get a lot of mention. I am not sure I have ever really talked about the tripods and tripod heads that I use. As an adventure photographer most might not think that tripods are a big part of my world, but there are quite a few occasions where I need to use a tripod. As shown above, I often use giant lenses to document the adventure world and that is prime territory for tripods. I also create quite a few landscape images and studio portraits where a solid tripod comes in handy. Over the years I have amassed quite a collection of camera support gear. Here I thought I would discuss the tripods and tripod heads that I use and rely on–and when I take each out on assignments.

At this point I have three Gitzo tripods (see my gear on the Equipment page) and several different tripod heads–everything from a Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head to a Wimberley Gimbal head. I don’t say this to crow about the gear I use but just as reference. I have a variety of tripods for various scenarios and sometimes need multiple tripods for assignments where I will be setting up remote cameras. On the high-end, I have a super heavy Gitzo GT5541LS tripod (one of the older top-end Gitzo tripods) that can handle just about any gear I will ever use. The modern equivalent of this tripod would be the Gitzo GT5543LS. The other high-end Gitzo–that I have had for decades–is an old GT2541 carbon fiber model. The GT2541 is quite a bit lighter and smaller than my bigger, heavier Gitzo. The modern equivalent of my GT2541 is the Gitzo GT2542. I have had both of these Gitzos, and another old Aluminum heavy-weight Gitzo 1340 for a long, long time. That old 1340 tripod (nearly 30 years old now) is at this point a museum piece but it still works extremely well–it is just a bit on the hefty side compared to my carbon fiber options. Tripods like these last forever if you take care of them.

In my lineup, I have had a hole of sorts for a long time. The GT5541LS is huge and quite hefty. I rarely take it on assignments unless I know I am going to use it a lot and don’t have to hike very far. On the flipside the GT2541 is so light that every time I use it I wish I had a slightly heavier tripod. In all honesty, I haven’t really ever loved the lighter GT2541, mostly because the center column design is a bit wobbly and also because the tripod is a little too lightweight for the heavier gear I tend to use on a tripod. In terms of designs, the GT2541 is extremely well crafted but I have just found that I do not like tripods with center columns. The center column is always the weakest part of a tripod so these days I am suspect of any tripod with a center column. I much prefer tripods that are taller without the need for a center column.

In the last few months, I recently purchased the Really Right Stuff TVC-24L tripod and the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler Geared tripod head in an effort to level up my tripod game. Along with the new tripod gear I also wanted a way to quickly and easily change out the tripod head on my various tripods. To that end, I also picked up a few of the Arca-Swiss Quick link disks and receivers to add to my tripods and tripod heads. The end result of all this is that I now have quite a collection of tripods and tripod heads to choose from and which I can tailor for my assignments. The RRS TVC-24L fills the gap between my heaviest Gitzo and my lightweight Gitzo. I have a feeling that the new RRS tripod will become my main tripod for most assignments. And with the Arca-Swiss Quick Link system, I can now choose the tripod head and tailor that for each scenario as well. The upshot is that I now feel like I finally have a tripod system that will live in that goldilocks zone of being heavy enough to be rock solid but not too heavy where I wouldn’t take it along.

Shown above (from left to right) are the Gitzo GT5541LS tripod with the Really Right Stuff (RRS) BH-55 ball head, the RRS TVC-24L tripod with the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler Classic tripod head, the Gitzo GT2541 tripod with the Acratech GP-s ball head, and on the far right the tiny Oben tripod with a RRS BH-30 ball head. Note that the Gitzo GT5541LS and the RRS TVC-24L also have the Arca-Swiss Quick Link system attached between the tripod and the tripod head for easy and quick tripod head attachment.

In terms of tripods and tripod heads that I would recommend, as you might imagine, I would recommend the gear that I have researched and purchased. I feel like Gitzo and Really Right Stuff (RRS) make the best tripod legs on the market. There are many brands of tripods out there and I am sure many of them can work for any variety of scenarios but I have worked with these two brands and their gear for decades now and they have been rock solid. I have gotten some discounts on Gitzo tripods many years ago but aside from that short window where I got a slight discount I have had to purchase pretty much all of this gear at full retail. For my recent tripod and tripod head purchase I paid full price. I do have some lower-end super lightweight tripods (and I’ll discuss those below) but they are for very specific use case scenarios.

As for tripod heads, as eluded to in the first paragraph, here again I have a plethora of RRS tripod heads (the BH-55, BH-30 and a RRS monopod head), an ancient Kirk BH-1 ball head (that has served me well for decades), a Wimberley head I have had for fifteen years or more and now the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler Geared head. All of these are top-end, incredibly well made options. They have all been a pleasure to use. I tend to opt for heavier, more stable tripod heads than lighter weight options. The BH-30 for example almost never gets used unless I need the lightest weight option. I have just learned that if I am going to take a tripod then going with a slightly heavier setup pays off every time–in terms of image quality and in terms of ease of use. In my experience, the tripod set up is not the place to scrimp on weight unless you absolutely have to.

As a result of owning all these tripods, I thought I would post up a blog here on the ins and outs of various tripod setups and how I tailor each tripod to different scenarios. I have found that having a variety of tripods is very useful. Below are several scenarios that I have found myself in on assignments — and each of them forced me to use a different set up. I’ll go in order from lightest to heaviest tripod setups.

Mountaineering Expeditions

On an expedition, where you are carrying all or most of your gear yourself, every ounce counts. The more you carry the more it wears you down. In my experience, going as light as possible is critical–especially if you want to have energy left over to actually create images. On my last expedition, in the Himalayas, we had porters that would carry the bulk of our gear. On that trip, I had the Gitzo GT2541 with me along with an Acratech GP-s ball head. This setup weighs in at 1,843 grams (4.06 pounds). For this assignment, I took my FUJIFILM GFX100 along with a few lenses and that setup never left basecamp since I was there to shoot video with a smaller camera system.

In the image above, I use that tripod setup along with the GFX100 to capture some night scenes of basecamp and Cholatse in the background. If not for the porters I would have taken a much lighter tripod since we had to hike into basecamp for three days. For the above scenario the Gitzo and Acratech setup worked but I would say the large GFX medium format setup was on the edge of that tripods comfort zone. I like the Acratech ball head but it is a lightweight head and not my favorite among the tripod heads I own. It gets the jobs done. I do like that the ball of the tripod head is exposed because they are easy to clean and don’t get gummed up like some other tripod heads can in adverse conditions.

Shown above (from left to right) are the Gitzo GT2541 tripod with the Acratech GP-s ball head, and the tiny Oben tripod with a RRS BH-30 ball head.

On expeditions where I am carrying my own gear, I have an even lighter setup: a cheap Oben CT-2331 carbon fiber tripod and the RRS BH-30 ball head. The Oben tripod is an older model that they don’t make any more. When I purchased it back in 2014 it cost around $200. Along with the BH-30 ball head the Oben tripod setup weighs a total of 960 grams (2.12 pounds). I carried this setup on a photography tour that I led (with four intrepid adventurers) where we traversed the Patagonia Ice cap behind Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre in Argentina and Chile. We carried sixty to seventy-pound packs for ten days on that trip and all told we climbed over 15,000-feet in elevation gain. Hence, the weight of our gear (all of it) had a big impact on each of us. I took only one camera body and one lenses on that trip–a Nikon D810 and a Sigma 24-105 zoom. Hence, I kept the photo gear to an absolute minimum. The Oben tripod was so shaky that I rarely ever even extended the legs. Patagonia is also notoriously windy so having the tripod low to the ground helped the stability as well.

I will say that the RRS BH-30 tripod head is well crafted but not my favorite ball head. I purchased it because it was lightweight and well made. It cost significantly more than the tripod I put it on. It is not the nicest ball head to use as the lever that tightens the ball head hits the bottom of the Arca quick-release plate every time you turn it. But it did the job and was light enough for that scenario. I chose the cheap tripod because I knew it would get beaten up and I didn’t want to take a super expensive tripod on a such an arduous trip–plus those light tripods are all pretty shaky so I also didn’t want to spend a fortune on an ultra-lightweight tripod I probably would not use that often. It did the job and every once in a while I pull it out for an arduous assignment but it doesn’t go out with me that often these days.

Long Day Hikes

For those scenarios where I have to hike in quite a ways to photograph a landscape or create an adventure sports image there is always the conundrum of how much gear in total that I need to haul. If I and my crew are taking strobes then a tripod is going to be low on the priority list as we will have tons of lighting gear and lightstands to carry. If we do need a tripod in that scenario it will most likely be the Gitzo GT2541 and Acratech ball head (as discussed above). If I am only carrying a camera and three or four lenses then depending on the length of the hike I will usually take a heavier tripod kit–most likely the RRS TVC-24L and either the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler tripod head or the RRS BH-55. Even though the heavier tripod and head are a lot of extra weight, it is worth it to have a solid setup to work with once I get to the location.

A good example of this scenario is a hike I did earlier this year in the Bisti Badlands where I hiked in to photograph the Bisti Wings (as shown above). While this wasn’t a massively long hike it was still six miles (9.7 km) round trip. On that hike, I had the lightweight Gitzo GT2541 setup with me since I also had a medium format camera and three lenses.

Multi-Day Landscape Photography

When I am photographing landscapes on my own or leading a photography workshop, I am normally hiking in a little ways into a location (a mile or so at most) and in those scenarios weight doesn’t really matter. I could take my heavyweight Gitzo or the RRS tripod and whichever tripod head seems appropriate. The bigger issue is usually how much space I have in my luggage and if the larger, heavier tripod will push me over the airline’s weight limit. If I know the location is windy I will usually opt for the heavier Gitzo tripod. If I have plenty of space in my luggage–or I am traveling by car–I will often take two tripods, one lighter and one heavier so I have options depending on the location for the day.

A good example of a trip like this is the Patagonia photography tour I co-led last year. On that trip, I took both my heavyweight Gitzo and the lighter Gitzo GT2541 as well. On most days I used the Gitzo GT5541LS and my Kirk BH-1 ball head and on longer hikes I took the lighter Gitzo setup. Justin Black (as shown above), who owns Visionary Wild and co-led that tour, had with him a single tripod, which was a RRS TVC-24L and a RRS BH-55 ball head. His RRS setup seemed like the perfect tripod setup for that scenario, which is why I just purchased that exact tripod.

Shown above (from left to right) are the Gitzo GT5541LS tripod with the Really Right Stuff (RRS) BH-55 ball head and the RRS TVC-24L tripod with the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler Classic tripod head. Note that both of these tripods have the Arca-Swiss Quick Link system attached between the tripod and the tripod head for easy and quick tripod head attachment.

The two tripods shown above, the heavyweight Gitzo and the RRS TVC-24L are the two best tripods I own–and the ones I always want to be using regardless of the scenario. It is only a matter of weight and the distance I have to carry them that keeps me from taking them.

Assignments Close to the Car

For assignments where I know we will be close to the car then there is really no worries about weight. In these scenarios I will take the heavy Gitzo GT5541LS every time–usually with the RRS BH-55 ball head. If I need to set up remote cameras then I might have multiple tripods with me for that scenario. As shown below, when I created images for the launch of the FUJIFILM GFX100 back in 2019, I had with me the heavyweight Gitzo setup detailed above. With medium format cameras and the larger lenses a heavy weight tripod is just easier to deal with and much more stable–especially with the decently heavy FUJIFILM GF250mm f/4 lens shown on the tripod below. For that assignment I used my old Kirk BH-1 heavy-duty ball head. The BH-1 has been out of production for a while now but it is in the same league as the RRS BH-55 and has been a workhorse tripod head for decades.

In other scenarios, as shown above, if I am doing a video shoot or photographing the night sky then again I am typically taking the heavyweight setup. Especially for long exposures at night, a heavy rock-solid tripod is a must for the best image quality. Of note, in the video camera setup above I am using the heavyweight Gitzo GT5541LS with a leveling mount and a Manfrotto video fluid head. The leveling base is very useful for those times when you need to pan the camera and follow the action as it keeps the horizon from changing angles in the frame as you pan the camera.

Surfing Photography (from the beach)

Photographing surfing has its own unique category of gear when it comes to tripods–especially if I am using a big lens like a 400mm f/2.8, a 600mm f/4 or an 800mm f/5.6. Anytime I am using one of these giant lenses, I take my Wimberley WH-200 gimbal tripod head that allows the lens to essentially float on the tripod. The Wimberely is an amazing tripod head and it is super specialized for these long telephoto lenses. Once it is balanced (as shown below) you never really have to lock it down. With all of the locks loosened at a moments notice you can grab the camera, swivel the lens over to the action and follow it as needed without any friction at all.

I used to use my Kirk BH-1 ball head with these giant lenses and that was a lot of work to keep the ball head from tipping over while tracking the action. It only took one or two trips where I was photographing surfing all day from the beach before I purchased the Wimberely head. Luckily for surf trips you generally do not have that much in the checked bags in terms of clothing so you can carry a heavyweight tripod and the giant Wimberely head. For surf trips in particular, I often take my ancient aluminum Gitzo 1340 tripod as it is a solid base and has very long legs. Setting up a tripod on sand requires a very tall tripod so you can push the feet into the sand to stabilize the rig. Pushing the feet several inches into the sand takes away some of that height so the taller tripods are perfect–especially when you are 6′ 3″ (1.9 m) tall.

Shown above is my ancient Gitzo 1340 aluminum tripod with the Wimberley WH-200 gimbal head. Note that I also have a Gitzo leveling base on this tripod as well that allows me to level the Wimberley head quickly and easily.

Of note, I also use the Wimberley head when using lighter weight telephoto lenses (as shown in the image at the top of this blog post) as well since it is so easy to use. I used to own the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 and now own the much lighter Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5. The new 400mm f/4.5 is so light that I don’t use a tripod with it that often but when I add a 2x teleconverter the tripod really helps to smooth out the movement if I am photographing action. If am going to be using a long lens and won’t be moving around too much then I always take the Wimberely head and a heavy tripod.

In terms of versatility, the Wimberley head is not a great all around tripod head. It is very specifically made for long, heavy telephoto lenses. Hence, if I am on a trip and need to use one tripod with both long lenses (say for photographing surfing) and also need to capture landscape images with shorter lenses I will usually travel with two tripod heads–the Wimberely and my RRS BH-55 or the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler.

Studio Portrait Sessions

In the studio, weight is of no concern. If I am doing a studio portrait I typically have hundreds of pounds of gear with me–and we usually roll that gear in on a giant cart (or even multiple carts). I also typically have an assistant with me when doing lighting. For portraiture it is not imperative that the camera is on a tripod, especially since the strobes will freeze any camera movement (no matter the shutter speed) but it is often nice to have the camera locked down if we are doing waist up portraits or headshots. With the camera on a tripod I can concentrate on the subject and often just have the camera set to track the face and eyes and don’t even look through the camera. This is an old-school technique where I can keep eye contact with the subject and then fire off frames as I see them. Often, I am also tethered in these scenarios with the art director or the client not far away so having the camera on a tripod is a safety consideration as well that helps to make sure the tethering cable doesn’t get pulled and the connections aren’t damaged.

As shown above, I often find having the camera on a tripod really helps when creating portraits. In this scenario, I was creating portraits of the Red Bull Air Force team members (in this scenario with the late Felix Baumgartner) and we would take five minutes to create a few portraits and then run out and continue with the action photography. I left the camera on the tripod so that it was ready to go anytime there was a few minutes in-between skydives to grab an athlete and do a few portraits. As you can see here, I also have my rock climbing harness on as well which was used to clip myself into a helicopter or a skydive plane and photograph the action out an open door.

Arca-Swiss Quick Link System

I have recently started using the Arca-Swiss Quick Link system for attaching my tripod heads to a few of my various tripods. I saw this system for the first time last year and I knew right away that it would be very useful for changing out the tripod head quickly and easily–as with the example of taking two tripod heads on surf trips. I have the Arca-Swiss Quick Link receiver base on both my Gitzo GT5541LS and also on my RRS TVC-24L. And I have the Quick Link disks (which slot into the Quick Link base) on most of my tripod heads. This setup makes it super quick and easy to switch out the tripod head from one tripod to another.

Shown above is the Really Right Stuff TVC-24L tripod with the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler Classic tripod head. The red arrow points at the Arca-Swiss Quick Link system attached between the tripod and the tripod head for easy and quick tripod head attachment. To release the tripod head all you have to do is rotate the collar on the Quick-Link and the tripod head can be lifted out.

I don’t have this system on my lighter Gitzo GT2541 as the Acratech ball head is pretty much the only head I use with that tripod. For the heavier weight tripods, as shown above, it makes sense that I might swap between the RRS BH-55 (my main ball head), the Arca-Swiss Core 75 Leveler geared head, the Kirk BH-1, or the Wimberely head. These days I often travel with one beefy tripod, typically the RRS TVC-24L, and take a few different tripod heads with me so that I have options.

The Arca-Swiss Quick Link system is rock solid. When I first saw the system (used by a fellow photographer in Patagonia) I was initially a little worried about play in the system and that it would make the tripod head less stable. But given that the photographer using it had a lot of experience with that setup, and shot on a 150 MP Phase One, it became quickly obvious that Arca-Swiss (who have a sterling reputation) had dialed this in. I have found the Quick Link system to be expertly crafted and there is no play whatsoever once the locking collar is closed. As can be seen above, the base plate (far left) attaches to the tripod and the disk (middle) is what attaches to the bottom of the tripod head. To attach the tripod head to the base plate you simply drop in the disk on the bottom of the tripod head and then the rotating collar on the outside of the base locks the tripod head into place. This is so much easier than pulling out the allen wrenches and unscrewing everything to change out tripod heads. I realize these are quite expensive at $180 per set but when you have such expensive tripods and tripod heads the Quick Link system is a nice addition.

Also, one of the great things about the Arca-Swiss Quick Link system is that it allows me to carry the tripod without the tripod head attached to it when hiking into a location. A tripod strapped to the side of a backpack is always a little precarious. Sure, you can crank the straps down so it doesn’t fall off but with a heavy tripod head on the top, it is always throwing the pack off balance. Also, if the tripod head is sticking up you can very easily start whacking trees, rocks and anything else that you walk by, which is not great for the expensive tripod head. Hence, this system solves a lot of those issues allowing for the legs to be the only thing strapped to the outside of the pack and the tripod head to be carried in the backpack along with the cameras and lenses. Once you are at the location it is easy enough to snap the tripod head onto the tripod legs (just like putting a lens onto a camera) and you are ready to go.